UPDATE 1-RESEARCH ALERT-Goldman Sachs upgrades BlackRock to buy

June 23 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs upgraded BlackRock Inc
(BLK.N: Cotización) to "buy" from "neutral," saying near-term fundamentals
remained robust for the U.S. money manager with strong fixed
income flows in the second quarter.

Since April, the stock has underperformed the group by 20
percent and the recent pull back is an attractive entry point,
the brokerage said.

Earlier this month, Merrill said it would consider selling
its stakes in BlackRock and news and financial data company
Bloomberg LP if it needed more capital.

Goldman has a price target of $220 on the stock, which rose
3 percent to $202.90 in early morning trade on the New York
Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Deepti Govind in Bangalore; Editing by Deepak
Kannan)